Dental articulator.



(Na Model.)

i Patented Apr. I, |902. Y J. TIFFIN & C. E. BENTLEY.

DENTAL AlcuLATon.

(Appxiction med Aig. 7, 1901.)

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JOHN TIFFIN AND CHARLES ELMER BENTLEY, OF PINOS ALTOS, TERRITORY y OF NEV MEXICO.

DENTAL ARTICULATOR. Y

SEEOIFILGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 696,774, dated April 1, 1902.

Application led August 7. 1901. Serial No. 71,158. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it' may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN TIFFIN and CHARLES ELMER BENTLEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Pinos Altos, in the county of Grant and Territory of New Mexico,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Articulating Devices, of which the following is a full and complete specification, such as will enable those skilled in the ro art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide an articulating mold former or device ot a new andimproved construction so made that l 5 the same is easily adjustable, that the top and bottom wax-holding articulating-plates may be moved one over the other by the action of the jaws in the operation of fitting, so as to obtain perfect articulation of the mold-plates,

2o which plates may be rigidly secured in any desired position relative to oneanother, and which device is provided with means for marking and determining the position.

To such ends this invention consists, in sub- 2 5 stance, of an upper articulating-plate and a lower articulating-plate, each provided with a handle, one of which handles is provided with a screw-threaded hole and the other with a slot adapted to receive a thumb-screw car- 3o rying a pointer, by which the two may be adjustably secured together, and means for securing a piece of cardboard or like material to one of the handle portions adjacent to the pointer.

3 5 In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiication, in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a top View of the lower-jaw articulating-plate of this invention. Fig. 2 isa bottom view of the top articulating-plate. Fig. 3 is a side view of the parts-combined and in position for use.

Fig. 4t is a front view oi the parts shown in Fig. 3, looking from the left. Fig. 5is a side View, on an enlarged scale, of the handle portion of the upper-jaw articulator, showing the screw and pointer in position thereon. Fig.

6 is a top plan View of the construction shown in Fig. 5, showing the removable markingcard thereon; and Fig. 7 is a side view of the screw-clips securing the card thereon.

ln the drawings, A designates the lower articulating-plate, and B the like plate of the upper jaw, formed of suitable sheet metal in the Way usual with articulator mold-iormers, the plate A having a handle portion C and the plate B a like handle portion C'. The handle portion of the lower articulator-plate A is provided at the extreme rear end with a single stud 10, and the plate B is provided on 6o either side upon its extreme forward end with like studs l1, each of which are provided at the bottom with rolling balls 12, held therein so as to form a miniature ball caster or rolling universal antifriction-caster,.the balls of the studs 11 when the parts are in position resting on the ends 13 of the plate A and the ball of the caster 10 resting against the under side of the handle C.

Secured at the center portion of the lower 7o plate A at about the center is a stud 14, in the aXis of which is a screw-thread adapted to receive the screw of the thumb-nut 15, such stud being of slightly less height than either of the studs 10 and .11, and the handle O of 75 the upper plate B being provided with an elongated slot 16, through which the screw 15 passes, such screw 15 being provided with a head or fiange 17, which when the screw is screwed fully home holds the handle C firmly 8o locked in position `upon the stud. Above the iiangel' is an indicating rod or pointer 18, loosely mounted upon the same, as shown, and slipped under a hasp 19, riveted or otherwise secured at the upper side of the handle C. Slipped over the eXtreme rear end of the handle O, as shown in Figs. 2, 5, and 6, are one or more U-shaped clip-pieces 20, (shown in detail in Fig. 7,) under which may be adjustably and removably secured a piece of 9c cardboard 21 or any other suitable material adapted to receive ink or pencil marks to indicate the point of exact articulation.

To use the instrument, the two plates are secured together in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 by screwing the screw 15 firmly down upon the plate B, so as to secure the same against movement upon the stud 15 in approximately thesame equal position. Then upon each of the plates any suitable soft modloo cling compound, preferably wax used by 'dentists, which softens upon heating and becomes hard by cooling, suflicient in quantity to take a model of the jaws, is placed in position in the hollows of the plates A and B in the well-known manner. The patient is then permitted to bite into this wax after heating and to retain the same in the jaws until the wax has become hard by cooling. As soon as the wax has thus set the plates are released from their rigid connection by partially lunscrewing the thumb-screw 15 just sufficient to permit of slight side motion of the two plates, one upon the other, by reason of the antifriction-ball casters 10 and 11, and the patient is then instructed to move his jaws around, so that one plate will move over the other until the operator is satisfied that the two jaws are in the correct articulating relation, which point is determined as follows: Each position assumed bythe parts of the device during such jaw movements is marked by making a dot on the end of the paper at the end of the pointer or indicator 18, and when a number of dots have been made at the same place it is evident that the proper articulative position of the jaws has been found, and the two plates are then fastened rigidly in such position by tightening the thumb-screw 15. After this the plasterof-paris models obtained in the well-known way are placed in position in the wax impressions and the whole then secured in position in a dentists articulator of the well-known form, after which the teeth are set up thereon in the common way. In performing this operation if all the teeth are missing from one or both jaws it is preferable to partially fill each of the plates with a hard modeling compound or dentists wax covered by small top portions of softer wax to receive the impression of the tender jaws,

Having thus fully described said invention, what we claim as new, and desire t0 secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with an upper articulating-plate, of a lower articulating-plate, each provided with antifriction devices by which the same may be moved freely against the other, and means for rigidly securing the same together against movement, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination one with the other, of two articulating-plates adapted to receive charges of modeling -wax, handle portions extending therefrom, a stud 14 having a screw-threaded hole carried by one handle, a slot in the other handle, supporting-studs on the handle and on the plate substantially at the height of the central stud, and a thumb-screw adapted to coact with the screw-thread of the stud for securing the parts together, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with two articulating plates adapted to receive charges of modeling-wax, of handle portions projecting therefrom one of which is provided with a centrally-located stud having an axial screw-threaded hole, a ball-caster stud carried by one handle at the end thereof, one or more ball-caster studs carried by the other articulating-plate the handle of which is provided with a slot, and a securing-screw passing through the slot and into the axial screw-threaded hole of the stud substantially as shown and described.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with two articulating plates adapted to receive charges of modeling-wax,

of handle portions projecting therefrom, one

of which is provided with a slot and with antifriction-casters, and the other with an antifriction caster or casters, and with a stud having a central axial screw-threaded hole for the securing-screw passing through the slot of the handle of one plate into the axial screwthreaded hole of the other so as to screw the same together, an indicating hand or pointer carried by the screw, and means adjacent to the screw adapted to receive ink or pencil marks, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a deviceof the class described, the combination with the upper and lower articulating-plates each of which is provided with a handle portion, of a securing-screw adjustably screwing the handle portions together, means for securing an indicating-card to one of the handle portions, and a pointer connected with the device adjacent to the slot the point of which is adapted to move over the indicating-card when the plates are moved over one another, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as -our invention we have signed our names, in

presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 23d day of July, 1901.

JOI-IN TIFFIN. CHARLES ELMER BENTLEY. Witnesses:

Lnws B. ROBINSON, FREDRICK NEWMANN. 

